Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, a former gang leader of the South Side Compton Crips, was found guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon in the 1996 drive-by shooting that killed rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas. The verdict came on August 31, 2026, after about 2 to 3 hours of jury deliberation, closing a nearly three-decade cold case [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

Tupac Shakur was shot multiple times on September 7, 1996, in a drive-by attack in Las Vegas and died several days later at age 25. The killing fueled intense East Coast-West Coast rap rivalries and gang conflicts between the Bloods and Crips through the 1990s [1, 6, 2, 7, 8].

Prosecutors argued Davis did not personally fire the fatal shots but orchestrated the shooting, ordered it, and supplied the gun. Evidence revealed Davis and three other men, including his nephew Orlando Anderson, who was suspected to be the shooter but was killed in an unrelated gang shooting in 1998, searched for Tupac and Suge Knight in a white Cadillac before the attack [6, 2, 8, 4, 9].

The shooting was allegedly retaliation after Tupac and his entourage fought Anderson earlier the same night, escalating the longstanding gang tensions [6, 2, 7, 4].

Davis had publicly admitted his involvement multiple times, including in a secret 2008 police interview where he acknowledged being in the car from which shots were fired, and his 2019 memoir "Compton Street Legend," which helped provide key evidence leading to his 2023 murder charge [6, 8, 4].

At trial, 24 prosecution witnesses testified versus 3 defense witnesses [4]. Davis was dressed in a black suit and remained impassive when the verdict was read. He said he plans to appeal the conviction [6, 8].

Family members of Tupac were emotional in court, with his sister Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur crying and hugging prosecutors and his cousin Zayd Akinyela saying, "We’ve been waiting 30 years to grieve properly. A lot of people don’t get to grieve until they understand what happened to their loved one and how it happened" [6, 7, 3, 4]. A fan also said, "It’s nice to have the final chapter written for the family and those that need that healing. The verdict is long overdue" [10].

Davis faces a potential life sentence without parole on the murder conviction [1, 2]. The trial began on August 17, 2026, in Las Vegas [2].